The ongoing feud up in Buffalo has been going on between the Bills and Free Safety Jairus Byrd since the beginning of the 2013 offseason.
Byrd was franchise tagged by the Bills in early March, only to sign it in an ill-willed fashion during the end of August. Since then, Byrd has been dealing with plantar fasciitis and is yet to play for the Bills this season.
This so called injury has been speculated as Byrd’s way of holding out on the Bills without actually holding out. The safety hasn’t kept quiet about his displeasure for a long-term deal and is becoming more of a team cancer than anything else.
Now Buffalo has decided it is best to shop their two-time all-pro safety before he walks, leaving them with nothing in return.
Since August, Buffalo has struggled with announcing their interest in trading arguably their best defensive player.
In a perfect world, the Bills could expect a third round, maybe even a second round pick for Byrd.
However, the franchise tag has killed a bit of interest, since a team can’t destroy such contract to start a new one.
Byrd has tremendous leverage if he is traded. He knows he can hold out for pay as easily as it is to jump back into free agency at the end of the season. That being said, here are some teams that could be desperate enough or able to afford the risk to make such a trade:
Eagles
The Eagles are a sleeper for Byrd. Philadelphia has a bottom five secondary in the NFL and need all the help they can get at the safety position.
Recently, the Eagles have signed ex-Patriot Patrick Chung, which helped only in the slightest. Sadly, Philadelphia needs another huge presence at the other safety position, one with ball-hawking abilities. Byrd has recorded 18 interceptions in four years.
That doesn’t seem like much, but if he returns to his rookie year form (nine interceptions), this could be huge for a team lacking in the forced turnovers category.
Oh, forgot to mention that Byrd played college ball at Oregon while Eagles head coach, Chip Kelly was the offensive coordinator for them at the time.
Ravens
As blown up by the media, Baltimore has let starting all-pro safety Ed Reed go after his contract expired. To no surprise, Michael Huff hasn’t exactly filled the shoes Reed left behind, and faced the loss of his starting job to Matt Elam.
Also, the Super Bowl champs are tied in a weak division with the Cleveland Browns.
They have only intercepted teams three times over four weeks and allow a quarterback passer rating of 94.0 on average.
The team needs to install the fear in throwing deep back into their play and Byrd would be just the answer for them.
The Ravens are still a “win now” team looking to upgrade instead of a rebuilding project. They can afford to give up a pick in the third round for better safety production.
Lions
The Lions are one of those teams that could come from behind closer to the deadline on this trade.
It’ll be interesting to watch, as this could be their year to get back into the playoffs after last year’s disappointing season. Louis Delmas isn’t doing terrible, but he isn’t playing to the next level every team hopes their athletes can be.
Byrd has already flashed that ability so why not make a small splash for him?
Some say head coach Jim Schwartz is on the chopping block and with the history of the Lions (post Barry Sanders) there is even less of a risk to make such a trade.
Consider this team a sleeper after this Sunday. A win and poor playing from Delmas could send a third round pick to Buffalo just before the deadline.
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